Center for Rural Health Practice provides training

The Center for Rural Health Practice at the University of Pittsburgh at
Bradford held a workshop Friday to put the resources of the worldwide medical
community at the fingertips of local providers.

“It can be hard for medical
professionals who don’t have access to a medical library to keep up with the
latest research,” said Kate Flewelling, outreach coordinator for the NationalNetwork of Libraries of Medicine, who conducted the half-day workshop at
Bradford Regional Medical Center.

Flewelling showed nurses from BRMC,
Olean (N.Y.) General Hospital and the Pitt-Bradford nursing program free online
resources and how to evaluate whether they are reliable, evidence-based
sources.

Students in the class had a chance
to research sample questions, such as whether there is any evidence that having
a patient listen to music after surgery makes them more comfortable after their
operation.

Flewelling said the resources are
available to the public, also, for researching health issues. They include the National
Guideline Clearing House, www.guideline.gov;
American Family Physician, www.aafp.org; and Drug Information Portal,
druginfo.nlm.nih.gov.

Dr. Lisa Fiorentino, director of the
center, said that she plans to bring Flewelling back to provide the training to
a wider audience. In addition to showing the nurses specific web resources, she
also taught them how to identify effective search terms and evaluate the
validity of a study.

In addition to presenting the
workshop for the center, Flewelling met with librarians at Hanley Library at
Pitt-Bradford to share the same information, which also can be of use to
students in nursing, education and other programs.

This project has been funded in part
with federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes
of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, and the University of
Pittsburgh’s Health Sciences Library System.

For
more information on future offerings, contact the Center at 814-362-5050.